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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Big,Bad,Bad First National Bank

Dear Michael Jordaan, Chief Executive of First
NationalBank,

The scary thing is
that if it has been allowed to go on for so long at one of your 700 odd
branches could it also be this bad at some of the others?

A cancer like this could eventually
destroy your entire empire.

Have you or any of your executives ever been to
the Long Beach Mall branch in Cape Town and
looked at the Give us your thoughts book in
which clients give you feedback about the standard of your service?

The
one there now only goes back as far as August
last year thank goodness because that’s more than shocking enough.

The majority of what’s there is a
terrible indictment of FNB’s management.

But the worst part
is that it has been allowed to fester away for years without anybody doing a
thing about it.

If I was you I would remove this record
of the Worst Service I have ever experienced in a
bank. All it’s doing is telling everybody who cares to look how FNB’s management has failed dismally.

I hate to say I
told you so, but I did more than two years ago. And I even wrote about
it on my blog. If you remember yours was the Bad of
Good and Bad Banks (December
2010).

Here are some of the hair-raising
extracts from this litany of how not to run a business of any kind.

26/8/11 Once again
no service. Only 2 tellers. It’s Friday. The worst service in FNB – Brian
Mitchell.

26/8/11 Easily
the worst FNB branch in the country. This is my second complaint about service.
Nobody cares – Brad Bell.

2/9/11 This is
the worst service I have ever experienced in a bank – Rob Dent.

21/10/11 Have
never had feedback re shocking service here – Lynn Jenkine.

"Where ever I am in
this bank everybody around me is upset and angry – no service."Then there is the one that is perhaps
the most telling of all. It was possibly written by somebody who works at the
branch.

"It’s not the teller’s fault. It’s all
the supervisors and senior people’s fault. One supervisor ran away."

Whoever wrote that can say that again.
The senior people are entirely to blame.

Heads should roll don’t you think Michael? The question is whose?

Last week my wife Gayle went to the branch to pay money into our
daughter’s account. She walked out on three days because the queues were so
long and finally paid the money in after a half an hour wait. There was only
one teller and it was Saturday morning!

As you know when I told you about my
wife’s experience you asked Barry de Witt your CEO of Branch Banking to investigate
and contact me. All he did was to get the poor woman who was only appointed the
branch manager two months ago to phone me.

Talk about
running for cover in the face of the enemy and passing the buck, I then
told you. Evidently Barry didn’t have thecourage to contact me, my email went on. Your manager is powerlessto
do anything about the situation if you and topmanagement
are not prepared to do anything.

In the same
Mall there is Absa, Nedbank and Standard and I have been into all of them and I have never once had the same bad
experience as my wife and I have had at the FNBbranch.

Soon afterwardsBarry phoned to say he was looking into it. About
timewouldn’t you say after three or perhaps
more years of horrible service that everybody in your bank should have been
aware of?

He followed this with an email saying, We have arranged to increase staffnumbers. He didn’t say by how many so only time will
tell whether things will improve or if the branch will remain as a monument to BAD,BAD Service.

Regards,

Jon, the Consumer Watchdog with dogged determination.

Buy my book 'Where have all the children gone?' on Amazon.com It's a thriller with an underlying love story that defied generations of Afrikaner/English prejudice.

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About Me

I was born in South Africa just before the Boer War whenever that was?
Started life with a golden spoon in my mouth which made eating rather difficult as a result I was under nourished as a child.
Went to a posh school where I only got moved up a class when my old man donated another sight screen for the cricket pitch.
Career prospects were dismal and I was once turned down for a job in the London sewers. "Too highly qualified;"that’s what they said.
I became a journalist when the Police Force wouldn’t have me.
Like most journos I know nothing about everything but I still write about it.
I decided to have my own blog so I wouldn't have to drink with the editor for hours on end to get my stuff published when according to my independent assessment it’s always of great news value.
My religious beliefs are: You only die once so remember, "You can’t be serious and Have Fun."
NEWS FLASH: I've just been appointed the Poor Man's Press Ombudsman by Presidential Decree (Not to be confused with the PRESS COUNCIL OF SOUTH AFRICA'S, SA Press Ombudsman)